


It Ain't Easy Bein' A Fusion

by Boxman_Bots_Are_Number_1



Category: Inanimate Insanity (Web Series), OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (Pun not intended), A fusion's components can hear the other's thoughts, A new Fusion struggling with identity, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Boxman & Venomous are nerds in love, But they tolerate Lightbulb better, Calm-ish Paintbrush, Clumsiness, Combined Powers, Confusion, Fusion - Freeform, Fusion to fusion talk, Human AU I guess??????, I've hardly written Boxman & I've never written Professor Venomous, Inspired by Hotlegs101's Twitter art post, Lightbrush is very strong in this one, Lightbulb and Paintbrush as humans in this, Lightbulb has electric-based powers (double obvi), Lightbulb is Trans, Lightbulb is a loveable goofball, Lightbulb's a dork, M/M, Might have some OOC on either Boxman's or Venom's part, Other, Paintbrush has fire powers (obvi), Paintbrush is Agender, Paintbrush is slightly protective of their date mate, Paintbrush is the same, Supportive Lightbrush, The Voxman ship might not be as strong as some of you would like, They don't know how to express it though..., They refer to each other as "date mates" because of obvious reasons, Venomous wears makeup, maybe both
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-03-30 22:16:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19036678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxman_Bots_Are_Number_1/pseuds/Boxman_Bots_Are_Number_1
Summary: Boxman and Venomous have been business partners for a long time, but they don't really know each other; both of them have been busy with their own villainous lives that they hardly ever talk to each other outside of business reasons. Whenever the other tries to, something always seems to get in the way - the weather, personal plans, family reasons - it's like one is always busy when the other isn't.But, maybe somehow ending up in the same body on an unknown island with a transgender and agender couple who can fuse into an 8 ft. tall female-looking fusion, might be what they need to become closer.





	It Ain't Easy Bein' A Fusion

**Author's Note:**

> Links to the inspiration of this One-Shot:
> 
> https://twitter.com/Hotlegs101_art/status/1134294859051950080  
> https://twitter.com/Hotlegs101_art/status/1134296161169354752  
> https://twitter.com/Hotlegs101_art/status/1134324972556414977

   Everything felt... _weird_ to say the least.

Professor Venomous wouldn't describe this sensation as "sore" or "tingly", but "weird" felt too simple; it was the only thing that came to his head, though, despite how much it was aching. He doesn't _exactly_ remember what happened, but he  _does_ remember talking with Boxman about business-related topics that came when merging with Boxmore, then... _nothing_ . Venomous tried moving his right arm, only to feel his hand slapping the right side of his face. Venomous groaned at the slap, feeling the hand falling off his face. He slowly cracked open his eyes, the bright sunlight shining into them.

    _"Mmm."_

   Venomous quickly closed his eyes again, covering them with his right arm. He carefully opened his eyes again, slowly removing his arm from sight. Venomous saw that it was about midday. Once Venomous got some more feeling in his other arm, he sat himself up, looking around his surroundings. Palm trees surrounded him on all sides, coconuts littered the ground at the trees' bases, rocks of all sizes and colors were around him and the sunlight, while bright, felt kind of nice on his skin. Venomous only felt more and more confusion as he looked around; one minute he was talking about business with Boxman, now he's on some kind of island with no...sign...of...

   Venomous suddenly realized that Boxman was nowhere to be seen within his sight.

   "BOXMAN!" Venomous quickly got up from his position, worried about Boxman's well-being so much that he didn't notice that his voice sounded a bit raspier than usual.

   For some reason, however, his legs felt like they were going another direction, so he ended up falling face-first in the dirt.  _"Ow..."_

   Venomous spat out some dirt as he rubbed his head with his right hand, only to discover something unusual. Venomous slowly looked over to where his fingers were combing his somehow longer hair, noting that it had somehow turned _dark green_. "What the-?" That was when he noticed that his lilac skin was now baby pink, judging from his hand. He stopped combing through his long, dark green hair to stare at his baby pink hand, confused.

    _'What is going on?'_ Venomous thought to himself, trying to make sense of all of this.

    _'I'm just as confused as you, P.V.'_ Venomous let a small gasp escape his mouth. There was only _one_ person who called him that nickname.

    _'Boxman?'_ Venomous thought, looking around for any sign of the man.

    _'Yup, it's me!'_ Boxman said awkwardly, even without seeing him, Venomous could sense him doing an awkward arm swing.

    _'Where are you? I-I can't see you.'_ Venomous whipped his head from side to side, making his hair slap his face a few times.

    _'Uh...I-I'm not sure.'_ Boxman said, uncertain.  _'I'm in some clearing with palm trees surrounding me.'_

_'Well, I'm in one too, so you might be close by.'_

_'Hang on, I've got a tracking remote in my lab coat. I'll try to find you from...wherever I am.'_

    Venomous felt relief washing over him, but it was quickly overshadowed by shock and surprise when he saw his right hand digging through his lab coat pocket. "What the-" Venomous quickly tried to pull it away using his shoulder, but for some reason, it was fighting back, like someone **_else_** was in control. He did, however, manage to rip his right arm from his coat's pocket with the use of his left arm that he didn't see completely from the fast action, but what he saw in his hand, shocked him.

    _'Boxman,"_ Venomous began.

    _'Y-Yes, P.V.?'_ Boxman nervously asked.

_'Your tracking remote wouldn't happen to be a dark gray square prism with a black screen and small control panel, would it?'_

_'Y-Yes, exactly!'_ Boxman said, sounding surprised.  _'How...did you know that?'_

 _'Because I'm holding it in my hand right now.'_ And he was, in his right hand, was the tracking remote that Boxman made.

   "WHAT?! BUT HOW'S THAT POSSIBLE?!" Venomous suddenly covered his mouth with his hands, dropping the tracking remote as he did.

    _'Did...did that sound like **your**_ _voice?"_ Boxman asked, confused.

    _'I...think it did.'_ Venomous looked to his hands, only to find another anomaly; he saw that while his right was normal - despite its color - his left was a chicken leg.

   "Boxman..." Venomous was about to say something, but when he glanced down at his legs, he immediately changed his attention to there. He was still wearing his usual black pants and eggshell white boots, but they, along with his legs, looked thicker; Venomous traced his legs on their sides, up towards his torso, where he saw that he was that it too looked slightly thicker; his navy blue turtleneck had become a sweater vest for a black tie and a white-collar shirt to show through; his labcoat remained the same, but it had a V-shaped cut in the bottom of it.

    _'...Yeah, P.V.?'_ Boxman asked after not getting a response.

   "I..." Venomous began, suddenly realizing that everything made sense now; his hair color and length, his skin tone, and most importantly,  **where** Boxman was. "I think...we're in the same body, Boxman."

* * *

   An unknown amount of time passed as both Venomous and Boxman both let the information that they were now sharing a body soak in, their legs up to their chest. Both villains feeling very conflicted about all of this.

Boxman felt confused, mostly; a small sliver of him did feel some type of underlying embarrassment for being in a situation like this. Don't get him wrong, he's had his eyes on Professor Venomous for as long as he's done business with him; he's wanted to be  _with_ him, but not like this.

Venomous, on the other hand, felt... _conflicted_ with this news. He's never been in the same body as someone else - minus that one plot he had when he was younger, but that was with those dodo-brained security guards before his device exploded - like now. On one hand, this was the greatest scientific breakthrough in villainy, on the other hand, he felt his- Boxman's-  ** _their_** stomach twist in a knot; though, he was pretty sure some of it was a contribution from Boxman.

   "So," Venomous began, cupping their cheek with their non-bird hand. "How...are you...feeling about... _this_?" Okay, so maybe Venomous never had a lot of friends in school, and  _maybe_ Venomous has never really made any type of personal relationships until Boxman, so maybe, possibly, there's a  _small_ chance that he's rusty on handling emotions; except for Fink, but she's pretty much his daughter to him as much as his minion.

   "I..." Boxman started, Venomous feeling Boxman using their shared mouth to talk instead of talking in their shared mind space; it was a strange feeling, having someone else use your mouth, even when it wasn't exactly yours; it felt like having AHS, but it's certain parts of your body that's moving, and not for no reason. "I...I don't...really...know."

   "Well, that makes two of us..." Venomous mumbled. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.  _'If our body and clothes are mixed, then what does our face look like?'_

   "I was just wondering that!" Venomous nearly flinched when his mouth said that, but then remembered the whole "sharing a body and hearing each other's thoughts" situation.

   "Well, I've got a compact mirror in my- sorrey-  _our_ lab coat pocket," Venomous replied. "I think I left it in the lower left pocket? Ha-Hang on."

   Venomous reached into the lower-left pocket, hoping to dig up the compact mirror. Unfortunately, it was tough to grab ahold of it, since his left hand was Boxman's bird hand instead of his regular hand; Boxman's bird hand has only three fingers on it, one less than what Venomous was used to with his regular hands. Luckily, he managed to grab a small, round object inside the pocket. "Yes!" Venomous whispered, pulling out a purple compact with a black "V" on it.

   Venomous took in a deep breath, letting it out after a beat. "Ready, Box?" Venomous asked Boxman.

   "Y-Yeah..." Boxman replied, nervous. "Let's just get this over with..."

   With that, Venomous used Boxman's bird hand, hearing the purple compact open with a "pop"; when it did, both of them saw what their face now looked like, and frankly, they were in shock. Both of them thought that their face would look like something out of a horror movie, but it was the complete opposite from their expectations.

Their head was squared like Venomous, with some roundedness from Boxman's head, and had the same golden robotic left side of the face as Boxman (a red eye with the "X" on it) as well as Boxman's "ears". Eyelashes, dark, shiny lids, and yellow sclera from Venomous. A mess of dark green hair that took on the characteristics of Venomous' (slicked back spikey hair that kissed their shoulders with two strands on each side of their head) and Boxman's hair (one side longer than the other), baby pink skin that had some stubble growing on near the chin and on the lower jaw, a slim eyebrow that looked like Venomous' on the right side and a bushier, dark green one on the left like Boxman's, and a long, stubby nose.

   Boxman touched their face with their other hand, lightly dragging it down the spot below the robotics. "Huh...I honestly thought it was gonna be-"

   "Much more horrendous?" Finished Venomous.

   "Yeah." Boxman chuckled at Venomous' comment before he caught sight of something in the distance from the mirror's reflection...which was heading right towards them.

    _"WHOA!"_

   Boxman quickly jumped out of the way and ducked, watching as Venomous' compact mirror burned to ashes from the fireball.

"Sorrey, P.V."

 "Eh, it was almost out anyway."

   Suddenly, another fireball nearly hit where both of them were; luckily, thanks to Boxman's quick reflexes, they weren't struck.

    _"Over here! It's coming from over here!"_ Said a male-sounding voice from somewhere within the foliage.

    _"Hey, wait up Painty! I'm not as fast as you!"_ Said a feminine, masculine-accented voice.

   "P.V., who's that?!" Boxman asked, shuffling away from the border of plants. "I-I don't know!"

   Suddenly, two people came out.

   One was a tall, dark-tanned blonde that had their hair up in a gray, shiny headband. They wore a brown T-shirt with sleeves that go to their elbows and brown, torn pants that disappeared into their knee-length black boots. Their light brown eyes held some type of fiery determination as their hands held actual fire. Their eyes have long lashes. Nothing about how the teen looked pointed towards strictly "male" or "female".

   The other was a short, pale-skinned blonde with her short hair in a high ponytail - the ponytail itself having most of it colored gray. She was wearing a bright yellow hoodie that said "THE BRIGHT WAY" written in gray, a light gray skirt that went down to her knees and had some kind of screw pattern on it, black shorts poking out of the end. She had blue, gray, and yellow sneakers with crabs on them. Her bright light yellow lashed eyes showed that she was both out of breath and determined, her hands sparking with something electrical. The young girl looked slightly younger than the taller teen.

   "Alright whoever you are!" The short, blonde-gray haired girl shouted, panting a slight bit in between her words. "If you don't come out and face us,  _right now_ we're gonna- Huh?" The short blonde was cut short, once her eyes landed the only other body there. The sparking in her hands depleting until it ceased.

   "What?" Asked the tall blonde. "What are y- Oh my paint palette..." The teen's eyes flickered over to where the girl's eyes were, only to become wide-eyed. The flames on their hands ceasing as well.

   There was a tense silence between all three/four people. The duo that came out of the foliage no longer had serious looks on their faces, instead, looks of shock, surprise, and possibly excitement(?) now read on their faces. Venomous and Boxman both just sat on the ground, looking at the two teens.

    _'What do we do, P.V.?!'_ Boxman asked, petrified. Venomous felt Boxman's worry wash over both of them, his growing.

    _'I-I'm not sure.'_ Venomous said, trying (and failing) to keep his voice level.  _'I-I'll try to talk to them. Who knows, they may be villains trying to help us. Ones that we never heard of or seen until now.'_

   Venomous knew it was a long shot, what with him being the most popular and well-known villain there is, but it was better to think of them as villains instead of heroes. So, he raised his normal arm, waving slightly as he smiled nervously. "Um...hello?"

   Suddenly, the short girl was in front of them so fast, that he was pretty sure he didn't see her move.

_**"OMGA!"** _

The girl exclaimed, her voice having enough force to blow Venomous' and Boxman's shared body back. "I am  _so_ sorry! When we got that alert from Fluorite, we thought it was another swarm of those Destabilizer Bugs that keep trying to capture us whenever we exited that hidden city Rhodonite lead us to when we were new here, but- MMF?!"

The girl then had the other teen's hand slapped over her mouth, muffling her words.

   "Lightbulb," The teen spoke, seemingly shutting the girl up. "In case you didn't notice yet, you just blew them a yard away from us." The tall teen took the hand away from her mouth, walking towards where Venomous and Boxman were sitting up, their eyes squeezed shut.

    _"_ _Ah... **geez** how can one girl possibly have a voice as powerful as that?"_ Boxman asked, rubbing their shared head.

   " _I don't know, but she kind of reminds me of you..."_

 Venomous opened their eyes, seeing a dark-tanned right hand in front of him, looking up, he saw the tall teen looking at him (and Boxman).

   "Hey," The teen said, the word sounding neutral. Venomous looked at the teen's hand before cautiously taking it, feeling himself being pulled up. "Sorry about her, she's loud, but she just cares about how others feel."

   Once Venomous and Boxman were on their feet again, they had to lean back on one of the trees behind them just to keep their balance. "O-Oh," Venomous said, struggling to balance even with help of the tree trunk. "W-Well, I can understand that, heh-heh..." Venomous succeeded, (thankfully) in standing up without the need of a tree and looked over to the teen, noticing that he was taller than them; most likely by eight or so inches.

   The teen seemed to chuckle slightly as if amused by Venomous. "I can see that."

   Venomous was about to ask what the teen meant by that when- "Hey!" -the short, gray-blonde ran up to them, stopping just next to the darker tanned teen. "Don't tell me I missed a joke,  _again_ , Painty."

   The taller teen rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around the shorter teen's shoulders. "Don't worry, you didn't." The teens looked up to Venomous and Boxman. "By the way, I'm Paintbrush. The sparky girl I'm holding here is my datemate, Lightbulb. Before you say anything, yeah, we know our names belong to objects, but we'll explain that can of worms later."

   "Also," Lightbulb said. "You should know right off the bat that I'm a transgender girl and Painty is non-binary, no matter what their looks say. *whispering* _Don't trust their looks_." Paintbrush chuckled a little at Lightbulb's motion, Venomous smiling as he heard Boxman groan in their head. "Anyway, what're your names?"

   "O-Oh, well, uh, I-I'm- uh, _we're_ -" Venomous was so caught up with trying to word his response that he didn't notice how Lightbulb worded her sentence.

  _"Boxman! What do I say?!"_

    _"I'm not sure, either, P.V.! I've never been in a situation like **this** before!"_

Venomous felt Boxman panicking within their shared body - which is kind of weird when he thinks about it - as he felt his rising.

   The Paintbrush suddenly let out another chuckle, smiling. "Relax, you can just introduce yourselves separately." Said Paintbrush, removing their arm from Lightbulb's shoulder.

   "Yeah," Lightbulb joined in, jumping a bit. "It's like, _totally_ cool with us. Cool as an ice cube." Lightbulb did some snapping finger-guns while clicking her tongue.

   Boxman tilted his and P.V.'s head, confused. " _What_ are you talking about?" Boxman asked, squinting his eyes at the teens.

   Both teens made eye contact with each other, Lightbulb gaining a smug smile. "Well," Lightbulb said, stretching her arms behind her head. "We're more alike than you think."

   " _How_ exactly?" Venomous asked, now just as suspicious as Boxman.

   " _Well..._ " Began Paintbrush, rubbing the back of their neck. "A, you're gonna have to tell us your names before we say anything else and B," Paintbrush sat down on the ground, Lightbulb sitting next to them as she leaned her head on their shoulder. "It's probably gonna take a while to explain."

   With that, Venomous and Boxman introduced themselves respectively while trying to sit down; they nearly fell on their face, but they managed to sit down cross-legged. Paintbrush and Lightbulb then began explaining everything they knew to the two villains.

Apparently, Boxman and Venomous were sharing a body because they were "fused" together, the being they created was their "fusion", they were on some kind of island that harbors creatures that are always trying to capture them called "Destabilizer Bugs" due to how they look like bugs, that there are some other fusions called "Fluorite" and "Rhodonite" who (along with the couple) live in this abandoned gem tech/Earth combined city in a hidden part of the middle of the island, and that the couple are (in fact) a fusion's components who they call "Lightbrush".

   "So, yeah," Lightbulb said, pulling away from Paintbrush. "We know  _exactly_ what you're going through, Voxman."

   "..."Voxman"?" Voxman asked, still trying to process what he was just told.

   "Well," Paintbrush said, crossing their arms. "Lightbrush is the fusion of Lightbulb and me, and since you're the fusion of Professor Venomous and Lord Boxman-"

   "BAM!" Lightbulb clapped her hands together, causing the others to flinch. "Voxman! I know it's not as "creative" as you would've liked, but it was either that or "Venman". Or "Venbox", which are _both_ bad fusion names, so yeah."

   "I...see," Voxman started, his tone similar to Venomous'. "That still doesn't explain why we're like-" Voxman's tone sounded more like Boxman's, gesturing to his body. "- _this_."

   Paintbrush shrugged as Lightbulb spoke again. "Eh, don't know. We were stuck as Lightbrush until we learned how to unfuse-"

   "YOU CAN UNFUSE?!" Voxman asked, grabbing Lightbulb by her shoulders with the biggest smile on his face. Voxman then realized what position he was in and let Lightbulb go, a blush crossing his features as he cleared his throat. "S-Sorrey, I um,  _we're_ just kind of excited to be ourselves again is all. Heh-heh..."

   "No prob," Lightbulb shrugged, smiling. "We were  _exactly_ like that when we first came here. Well, except for someone coming here right after we came here, but hey, still the same." Paintbrush rolled their eyes at their datemate, amused.

   "Y'know, that's the third time you've mentioned this "Lightbrush" person," Voxman observed, making finger quotes on Lightbrush's name. "Why are they so important to you two?"

   Paintbrush and Lightbulb looked at each other, smugly smiling to each other; then they looked at Voxman with toothy smiles that creeped him out a bit and got up. "Why don't we show him, 'Bulb?"

   Lightbulb's smile somehow grew brighter, her body sparking with electricity as she nodded furiously. Lightbulb then grabbed Voxman by the back of his lab coat, pulling him up to his feet - the Venomous part of him finding it weird how a short girl like her was able to do that. Before either part of him knew what was going on, Voxman watched as Lightbulb and Paintbrush did a small dance that looked like a combination of the Tango and the Waltz; Paintbrush dipped Lightbulb down, the girl winking a bit at Voxman, before being pulled back up and-

    ** _'_ _WHAT THE HECK?!'_**  Venomous and Boxman both yelled inside Voxman's head.

   Voxman watched as the couple turned into light, which soon became a feminine person who was about 2 feet taller than Voxman was and had a combination of Lightbulb and Paintbrush's clothing on their person; their hair was styled similarly to Lightbulb's and Paintbrush's, headband, half gray hair, and all. The person opened their eyes - revealing a pair of lashed, light brown and bright light yellow heterochromia eyes - before looking down at the shorter fusion, smiling.

   "Hi," The tall fusion said, crouching down to Voxman's level. "I'm Lightbrush."

   "Uh..." Voxman cleared his throat before extending his normal hand. "I-I'm Voxman. I guess..."

   Lightbrush chuckled, shaking Voxman's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Voxman."

   Voxman retracted his hand and put it in his lab coat pocket, nervously chuckling. "S-Sorrey, this is... _really_ weird."

   Lightbrush shrugged, standing up to their full height. "That's fine. Things were  _way_ weirder for Paintbrush and Lightbulb, so I know what you're going through."

   Just then, a faint, low-pitched snapping sound came from the right of where they were. Voxman and Lightbrush looked at it; one with fear and the other with concentrated awareness, respectively. "Wh-What was that?" Voxman asked, stepping back a bit.

   " _That_ was the sound those stupid Destabilizer Bugs make whenever they're near." Lightbrush turned to Voxman, a serious expression on their face. "Come on, we need to move  _far_ from here." Voxman wasted no time in following the taller fusion, who was leading them far from the clearing; Voxman had trouble with running, but he managed not to land on his face as he caught up with Lightbrush. Little did either of them know, there was a pair of triangular, beady yellow eyes watching them from the bushes.

* * *

**6 1/2 hours later...**

   It's been hours since they heard the Destabilizer Bugs' buzzing, the Sun had already set about 2 hours ago, and it was getting hard to see in the dark. Suddenly, they were in another clearing, smaller than the one Voxman had been in, but it looked somewhat used; the first hint was the fact that there was an unlit fire pit in the middle. Lightbrush sighed, Voxman looking over to her silhouette. Voxman & Lightbrush managed some small talk while walking and found out that she's alright with she/her & they/them pronouns, having a preference for the former instead of the latter. "I think we're safe for now," Lightbrush said, walking over to the fire pit. "But it's too dark to continue. We're gonna have to stay here until dawn."

   Voxman nodded, but then realized that she couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah, sounds, uh, sounds fine by me," Voxman said, feeling a cool breeze pass by him, shivering as he pulled his lab coat closer to him. "Brr, it's uh, little cold here, heh-heh..."

   "It won't be for long." Voxman watched as Lightbrush made a fireball appear above her right hand's palm, dropping it into the fire pit and watching the fire explode into life. Voxman was in awe, walking closer to the flame.

   "Ho-How did you **do** that?" Voxman asked, sitting on the ground.

   Lightbrush sat on the opposite side of the fire, facing Voxman. "One of the good things about being a fusion is that you gain your components' abilities,-." Lightbrush rubbed her hands together, causing a spark to come off of them. "-and even a few of your own." Lightbrush then summoned three more fireballs, the fireballs sparking as she juggled them. "Trust me, neither Lightbulb  _nor_ Paintbrush could juggle, but I can." Lightbrush then dissipated the electrical fireballs, leaning back on her arms. "What about you?"

   "Huh?" Voxman was so entranced by Lightbrush's juggling act that he spaced out on what she was saying. "S-Sorrey, I-I wasn't listening..."

   "Eh, 's fine." Lightbrush shrugged, her voice sounding a bit deeper. "I just asked what abilities you have is all."

   "O-Oh, well, I-I-" Voxman cut himself off, realizing something. "...I don't know."

   Lightbrush shrugged again, seemingly not affected by Voxman's lack of knowledge. "Eh, you'll find out eventually." Lightbrush got up from the ground, walking over to a random bush. "You hungry?" Lightbrush pulled up the bush, revealing a buried bin protruding from the ground. Voxman nodded slowly, feeling Venomous making a mental note to ask about that later.

* * *

**A Small Amount of Time Later...**

   "So," Lightbrush began, finishing her hotdog; they're cooking hotdogs on sticks. "How're you adjusting to being a fusion?"

   Voxman thought for a moment, swallowing the hotdog bite in his mouth. "It's...still pretty weird, but I'm adjusting to it," Voxman responded, his voice sounding deeper.

   Lightbrush smiled. "Well, it's great to hear that, Venomous."

   Voxman perked up at this, setting his stick down. "How-"

   "Voice changes depending on who's answering," Lightbrush answered, throwing her stick into the fire. "When Venomous is speaking, Voxman's voice becomes deeper; when Boxman's speaking, Voxman's voice goes higher."

    _"Huh, no wonder I keep thinking our voice sounds different when I'm talking..."_  Boxman commented.

    _"It **does** explain quite a few things, now that I think about it,"_ Venomous replied.

   "You know I can hear you, right?" Voxman jumped at the sudden voice; looking up, Lightbrush was staring at him with an unamused look on her face.

   Voxman coughed into his chicken fist, feeling his face blush from embarrassment; more so from Venomous than Boxman, surprisingly enough. "Sorrey, uh, I-I didn't-"

   "Relax," Lightbrush said, her voice sounding higher as she held up a hand. "You didn't know you were mumbling, I get it. Bulby and Brush did it when they were still getting used to becoming me."

   "That's the third time you've mentioned Lightbulb and Paintbrush as two different people," Voxman squinted his eyes at the fusion. "Why do you keep referring to them as different people? Aren't you the same... _being_  as them, or are you different from them?"

   Lightbrush looked away like she was in thought - though, it was more like Lightbulb and Paintbrush were discussing with each other. "Well, it's...kinda complicated a-and  _really_ hard to explain..."

   Voxman glanced around, seeing the darkness surrounding them that somehow felt...calming, in a sense. " _Well_ , we've got time, so you might as well try your best."

   Lightbrush smiled, then took in a breath before beginning. "On this island, there are two different kinds of fusions; gem fusions, like Rhodonite and Flourite, and us organic fusions, you and I. Both types of fusion share certain traits; we gain height, strength, and powers from our components, their bodies turn into light when they synchronize, and we can do things they wouldn't be able to otherwise. But it's like fashion originals versus fashion knock-offs, there's a good number of differences between the two.

"For gems, fusions have their components' minds and bodies become one with each other and create an entirely different entity, instead of two minds sharing a single body. For _us_ , however, it's more complicated than that; Lightbulb and Paintbrush's minds didn't merge the first time they became me, but over time, I became my own person with my own thoughts; that doesn't mean they can't speak and think for themselves when something emotional happens, but most of the time I'm my own person, with one or both of them taking control during those emotional moments."

   Lightbrush looked into the fire, watching as the flames did something akin to dancing. "Their individuality fades away the longer they're us, causing us to become our own people with our own, unique personalities with every fusing." Lightbrush looked up from the flames and up to Voxman, who was still listening on Lightbrush's explanation. "You noticed that you've stopped referring to yourself as more than one person, right?"

   "Yeah, so?" Voxman then pieced together the puzzle pieces that had yet to fit into the puzzle, his eyes becoming slightly bigger than they were before. "Wait...so, you're saying Venomous and Boxman's individuality's already fading when they're _me_?"

   "Yup." Lightbrush nodded. "Though I'll admit, it's happening a  _lot_ faster than it did for Painty and Lighty. I guess that it's Venomous and Boxman had a stronger bond before they came here."

   "...oh." Was all Voxman said, looking at his hands; his gaze almost looked like he was glaring at them. The Venomous side of him was intrigued by this explanation, but he felt some unease too. Boxman was just plain terrified, which was understandable; losing your individuality can be a frightening thing to think about. Lightbrush sensed this and moved over to Voxman, putting a hand on his shoulder and causing the shorter fusion to look up in reflex.

   "Look, it's not as scary as it sounds. Venomous and Boxman will still be themselves when they unfuse, they're only losing their individuality in you because you're becoming your own self, separate from them, but can't exist without their influence." Lightbrush sighed, mumbling to herself about how Paintbrush is bad at explaining things. "L-Like I said, explaining fusion's complicated, a-and it takes time to understand it, but you'll get the hang of it. Trust me." Voxman smiled, feeling a bit better about his and his components' predicament.

   "Thanks, Lightbrush." Voxman flinched, not expecting the sudden hug from Lightbrush, but returned it out of courtesy.

   "...There is one thing I still don't understand, though." Both fusions separated from the hug, Lightbrush having her full attention on Voxman. Voxman breathed in, hands clasped together, and eyes shut; then, Voxman grabbed Lightbrush's shoulders, brought their faces together until their noses were touching and yelled, "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO UNFUSE?!" in a voice that sounded like Venomous' and Boxman's voices were overlapped with one another.

   "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down, Vox!" Lightbrush pushed Voxman away from her face (Paintbrush never liked it when someone they barely knew was in their personal space) and sat him down. "Look," Lightbrush began, calming herself down. "Fusing is one thing, but _un_ fusing - especially when you've just arrived here - is hard. Lightbulb and Paintbrush were stuck as me for a few days before they finally separated."

   "A few  _days_?!" Voxman felt anxiety rise inside of him, grabbing the sides of his head, messing up his already messy, dark green hair.

   Lightbrush gently grabbed Voxman's hands, slowly pulling them down to his sides again. " _But_ , based on how fast you've switched from plural pronouns to singular ones, I think there's a good chance for you to unfuse quicker. The only reason it took a while for Lightbulb and Paintbrush to unfuse was that they didn't accept that they were gonna be me. But, who knows," Lightbrush shrugged, releasing Voxman's hands from her own. "With how strong Venomous' and Boxman's bond is, they might be able to accept it quicker."

   "...And you're  _sure_ that'll work?" Voxman asked, his voice soft and vulnerable.

   Lightbrush hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure."

   Voxman sighed, exhausted. "Normally Boxman would be yelling at you for this-" Voxman's robotic eye twitched at the comment. "-but this day has already been hectic as it is, so-" Voxman had to pause in his sentence to let out a big yawn, his pure white, sharp fangs sparkling in the lighting of the fire. "-I think we should sleep now. I'm feeling pretty drained." Lightbrush nodded sluggishly. Voxman noted that Lightbrush had developed some bags under her eyes before she stood up and stretched, walking over to her side of the fire.

   "Agreed," Lightbrush sat back down on her side, turning her head enough to look at Voxman with her light brown eye. "You want the fire on or off?"

   "Off."

   Lightbrush nodded before moving her hand to extinguish the flame, leaving both fusions in the dark. "'Night, Voxman."

   "...goodnight, Lightbrush."

   Funnily enough, Voxman's voice sounded sincere and was higher.

* * *

    _Snap!_

    Voxman's eyes snapped open, lifting his head from his lab coat/make-shift pillow to look around.

    _'Boxman?'_ Venomous quietly asked in their shared headspace.

    _'Ugh...I told you, I'll get to those orders later, Cosma...'_  Came Boxman's sleepy reply, obviously dreaming. Venomous resisted the urge to groan as he heard another sound.

    _Snappity-snap-snap~_

    Voxman flinched as Boxman jerked awake in the mind.  _'Wha-what was that?!'_  

    _'I'm not sure.'_  Venomous said, feeling sweat forming on Voxman's forehead.  _'But I think it's time we wake Lightbrush up.'_

   Voxman nodded to himself as he simultaneously grabbed his lab coat and walked over to the sleeping form of Lightbrush, who was mumbling out flirts. Once his lab coat was properly on, he began shaking Lightbrush awake.

    _"Lightbrush! Lightbrush wake-up!"_

   Slowly, Lightbrush began stirring awake, silently groaning awake from the sudden disturbance of her dream; it was Lightbulb and Paintbrush having a romantic date in their object forms. Lightbrush sat up halfway, rubbing her eyes as her sight focused on the baby pink-skinned, dark green-haired male fusion who was hovering over her.

   "Voxman?" Lightbrush yawned, stretching her back as some pops emitted from that spot; Voxman stepped back a bit to give Lightbrush some space. "What are yo-"

Just then, a third sound was heard.

    _Snappity-snippety, snippety-snappity-snap~_

   Lightbrush jolted up to her feet, fists clenched as she glared at the foliage the sounds were coming from. "Voxman," Lightbrush stated firmly, her hands sparking with electric energy. Voxman looked at the taller fusion, immediately taking notice of her serious tone. "Grab the nearest thing you can and hide." Lightbrush kept her eyes on the foliage, Voxman could've sworn he saw Lightbrush's hair spark a few embers as he was looking for something to use as a weapon.

   Suddenly a giant, black and yellow bug came out of the planty cover. It had giant pincers that were in a big, V-shaped that were just about close to touch each other on their points; there were some giant black legs that had yellow rings around the places where the joints were; pointed feet dug at the ground of the beetle-shaped bug; its body looked to be made of metal, as well as being a pointed semi-circle with a small, sphere-shaped head that held beady, yellow eyes that glowed in the dark.

   Everything seemed to have paused for all three beings in the campsite clearing. Voxman was frozen stiff on his hands and knees in a small patch of grass, looking in fear at what he can assume is the Destabilizer Bug from earlier; he was a couple of feet away from Lightbrush. Lightbrush narrowed her eyes at the creature as it narrowed its eyes at her.

   After what seemed like 5 years - which was in actuality 5 seconds - the Destabilizer Bug sprung into action.

   It leaped up into the air before its wings came out from its back, hovering in the air. Its pincers widened the space between the tips as a bright yellow ball of energy began charging up, launching it as soon as it was done. Voxman snapped out of his frozen state enough to move just fast enough to miss the energy ball hit the ground, leaving a noticeable burn mark. Skidding to a stop using his feet and hands, Voxman looked over to Lightbrush in time to see her run towards the Destabilizer Bug.

    _ **"LIGHTBRUSH!"**_  Voxman called out, reaching an arm towards the speeding fusion.

   The call fell on deaf ears, however, as Lightbrush's attention was on her target: the Destabilizer Bug.

   Lightbrush leaped into the air, using her pyrokinesis to shoot herself higher into the air and towards the Bug.  _ **"**_ _ **Hey, D-Bug!"**_  The Bug shifted its eyes towards the oncoming fusion. _**"You're looking a little low on power, how about I RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES?!"**_  Lightbrush stopped using her pyrokinesis on one hand and charged-up an electric punch, reeling back enough to swing her fist right into the D-Bug's tiny head. This caused the D-Bug to fly back a few feet and a small part of its head to fall to the ground below; it was heavy enough to shake the ground Voxman was on. The D-Bug shook off the electrical punch (though it did spark a bit from the impact) and began charging a barrage of energy balls.

   "Oh? Not done yet, huh?" Lightbrush teased. "Well, guess what?  _I'm_ not done either!" The D-Bug began launching a few energy balls at Lightbrush, who easily dodged them and retaliated with some shots of electrical bolts at the D-Bug.

   Voxman watched as Lightbrush went up against the D-Bug (which he can only assume is short for "Destabilizer Bug") in the air. It was almost like a synchronized dance between them, Lightbrush playing it smart and leading the D-Bug closer to her before striking it in the head. After a while of this, Voxman noticed that Lightbrush was sweating profusely.

   "Alright, you!" Lightbrush panted out, glaring the half-way intact D-Bug's head; one of its eyes were cracked from the attacks. "It's time *huff* we end this *puff* **stupid** *gasp* **_fight!_ "**

   With all of her might, Lightbrush used whatever strength she had left in her to power her improvise rocket hands to launch her towards the D-Bug. The D-Bug began flying towards the flying fusion, widening its pincers to charge up another energy ball.

   "Oh, no!" Lightbrush said, stopping the flames. "Not  _this_ time!" Lightbrush flipped in the air to dodge the energy ball that was aimed right for her. Lightbrush landed right on to of the D-Bug's back, exactly where the wings sprouted from. Lightbrush grabbed onto one of the wings and began tearing at it, causing the D-Bug to begin flying crazily in the air.

   On the ground, Voxman began stepping back to avoid getting crushed by the inevitable impact from the D-Bug.  _'Please don't land us, please don't land on us, please don't land on me.'_  Was the thought that was running through Voxman's head; the first one was from Venomous, the second from Boxman, and the third was from Voxman himself.

   Back in the air, the D-Bug began screeching at Lightbrush, trying to turn its head to face its assailant. With one more strong, hard pull, Lightbrush ripped the wing out from its back, jumping off of it and watching as it began falling to the ground; Lightbrush used her pyrokinesis to slow her descend and watch the D-Bug's fall. Once Lightbrush touched the ground, she struck a smug smile at her defeated opponent, satisfied with her win. "That's what you get for bullying us all the time!"

   Voxman watched from inside the forest, seeing the rest of the battle behind the tree made him feel something different. Venomous and Boxman are villains and since Voxman is the fusion between them, that by extension makes him a villain too; it also means he hates heroes and friendship. But, for some reason, looking at Lightbrush and how she, Paintbrush, and Lightbulb have helped him, Venomous, and Boxman, he felt something warm inside him blossom; it was enough to make him smile, just watching as Lightbrush was doing a small victory dance.

   Before Voxman could leave his spot behind the tree, however, he saw the D-Bug began moving again; Lightbrush's back was faced towards it, so she didn't notice it. Voxman watched as the D-Bug opened its pincers, charging up an attack that would without a doubthit Lightbrush.

    **"LIGHTBRUSH!"**  Voxman yelled, cupping his mouth so his voice could be heard better.  **"LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!!!"**

   "Wha-" Lightbrush looked behind her, just in time to see the energy ball hitting her.

    _ **"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_

   A shrill scream came out of her, hurting Voxman's ears so much that he nearly covered them; the only reason he didn't was because of what was happening to Lightbrush when the energy ball hit her body. Lightbrush held her head in pain, surrounded by a pale yellow glow, which looked more white with a yellow outline, the same yellow making her blood veins visible in the dawn's light.

   It felt like an eternity had passed.  _'This couldn't get any worse...'_  Voxman thought too soon, as what happened next was the straw that broke the camel's back.

   Lightbrush's body turned into light, which looked like it was trying to stay together before two bodies - Lightbulb and Paintbrush's - fell to the ground, unconscious and groaning.

   Voxman's eyes widened, mouth agape and mind blank as he tried to process what in Cob's name had just happened.  _"Lightbrush..."_  Voxman whispered under his breath.  _"No..."_  Voxman fell to the ground on his hands and knees.

   "I'm sorrey..." Voxman choked out, feeling himself shake as he felt his sadness being replaced with a firey feeling; a feeling that he  _knew_ was one of Boxman's main traits: anger. "I'm sorrey, I didn't  _ **join the battle when I had a chance!"**_  Voxman growled out, getting up from the ground as he felt the sensation of his hands shift into claws, Venomous' tail sprout out, and his teeth sharpen ever so slightly; he didn't pay the feeling any mind to it, right now, he had  _other business_ to take care of.

* * *

   The D-Bug used its undamaged eye to analyze Lightbulb and Paintbrush, both having a (literal) splitting headache. Once it was confirmed that neither were in shape to fight back, it let the news be known to its master.

    **D-BUG 497: Master, I've taken down one of the ship fusions.**

    **Master S: Good.**

    **Master S: Now capture them & bring them back to HQ.**

    **Master S: Don't mess this up.**

    **D-Bug 497: I won't disappoint you, Strike.**

   D-Bug 497 was about to come closer to the knocked-out LGBT+ couple when it heard something charging towards it. Turning its head, it saw a baby pink and dark green blur with a look of fury that said, "You're about to be squashed bug" on his face. D-Bug 497 didn't even have half a millisecond before the blur tackled him to the ground. When D-Bug 497's vision cleared, he only saw Voxman's enraged face and raised fist before his vision was lost for good.

   Voxman managed to break both of D-Bug 497's eyes before taking swings all over his head and near his neck; he tore off a few parts of his body and sent them flying all over the place. Eventually, Voxman stopped punching D-Bug 497; he was breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself down. After a few breaths, he managed out an exhausted sigh before closing his eyes and rubbing his temples, a small migraine forming as his hands went back to normal. "Glad that's over with..." Voxman muttered to no one.

   Suddenly, he remembered Lightbulb and Paintbrush were there with him, both teens groaning from their headaches. Voxman got off of the D-Bug he just pummelled inwardly, running over to where Lightbulb and Paintbrush were, both of them getting up from the ground.

   "Lightbulb! Paintbrush!" Neither teen had time to react before they found themselves in Voxman's arms, hugging them tightly. "Oh thank  _Cob_ you're both alright!" Voxman exclaimed happily. "When I saw what happened to Lightbrush, I-I was worried that-" Before Voxman could continue, a dark-tanned hand was placed on his lip; looking up, it was Paintbrush, who was smiling softly.

   "Hey," They calmly said, removing their hand from his mouth. "It's alright. We've been hit enough times for us to know it's not fatal. But, I guess now you can see why those things are called "Destabilizer Bugs", right?"

   "Heh, y-yeah," Voxman admitted. "The name honestly confused me until now." Voxman then turned to Lightbulb, realizing she hasn't said anything yet. "Lightbulb, are y-"

    _"YOU HAVE A TAIL?!"_

   Voxman and Paintbrush were both surprised by Lightbulb's sudden outburst, but both looked at where Lightbulb was pointing and, indeed, saw Voxman's baby pink rattlesnake tail.

   "O-Oh!" Voxman exclaimed, facing Lightbulb again. "Y-Yes, I do, have one. You can thank Professor Venomous for that." Voxman waved his tail a bit, before relaxing enough to retract his tail and dull down his teeth; this left an awe-struck Lightbulb and a slightly weirded out Paintbrush.

   "Huh, weird." Paintbrush mutter to themself, getting up from the ground; they whistled slightly as their eye caught sight of something. "I like what you did to that D-Bug."

   "Huh?" Voxman turned around to see what they were looking at the maimed D-Bug. "O-Oh..." Voxman felt his face heat up from embarrassment. "I-I um...I can explain that." Voxman nervously chuckled at the end, shrinking slightly in his spot on the ground.

   "Eh, you don't have to." Paintbrush said, walking over to inspect the mostly intact corpse of the D-Bug. "I'll admit, these things have gotten a stronger shell." Paintbrush sighed, getting up to look at Lightbrush and Voxman. "We're gonna have to take this back to the city. Hopefully, Flourite and Rhodonite can figure out what changed in these things. After that, we'll get you set up with a house of your own." Paintbrush grabbed one of the remaining legs and began pulling on it; Lightbulb ran to the opposite side and began pulling also; Voxman was behind the corpse, pushing it. "But for now, we need to get this thing to the city."

   And so, they began to - slowly but surely - move the D-Bug corpse to the city.

* * *

   By the time they were near the "entrance" - which looked like a cliff wall with ivy climbing up it, but Lightbulb and Paintbrush were very insistent that it was the door - all of them were exhausted from moving the D-Bug. Voxman was leaning his back on the cracked D-Bug shell while Lightbulb and Paintbrush leaned against each other, all of them were panting heavily.

   "Okay," Paintbrush said in between pants. "Those things...are getting...heavier." Lightbulb just nodded her head as she leaned into Paintbrush's chest, wrapping her arms around them to dramatize her exhaustion.

   "Couldn't you have just fused into Lightbrush and carried it?" Voxman asked, gaining enough strength to stand up again.

   "If we weren't hit by that D-Bug's Destabilizer Blast, _yeah_." Lightbulb said, her voice sounding a bit horse. Voxman assumed Lightbrush's screaming was mostly from Lightbulb. "If and when you get hit by one, Vox, you'll learn of the pain we deal with."

   " _Plus,_ " Paintbrush added, the word containing some sternness. "We need to wait a full hour before we can fuse. Any earlier and it'd just look like we're just dancing."

    _'_ _Huh, so the D-Bugs are stronger than it looks...'_  Voxman noted, nodding his head to show that he was paying attention.

   "So, how've you been feeling?" Paintbrush asked, hoping to change the subject.

   "Asides from the slight migraine, fine." Voxman's earlier head throbbing had now become just a dull pain. "I have been thinking though."

   "Oh?" Paintbrush was now interested in what Voxman had to say; Lightbulb was listening, but she didn't care as much as Paintbrush. "What about?"

   "Well," Voxman began nervously, tapping his fingertips together; it was a nervous tick he got from Boxman. "This past day or so has been an experience that not only will cause sleepless nights of nightmares but also making Venomous and Boxman feel less... _scared_ of all of this." Voxman glanced at the couple, Paintbrush smiling while Lightbulb was rubbing her eyes as she stretched her back. "I-I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm glad you came when I- they- when _help_ was needed."

   Voxman then heeled turned in his place, facing the couple. "Even if Ven and Box are stuck as me for a few days, I just wanted to say..." Voxman couldn't help the tears that spilled out of his eyes, his emotions were very overwhelming for him right now. "Thank you, for making this less horrible."

   After that, Voxman's body felt tingly before his vision went white.

* * *

    Venomous opened his eyes, seeing Lightbulb and Paintbrush with possibly the most shocked expressions he's ever seen in his life.

   "Is something wrong?" Venomous covered his mouth. Noting two differences with himself. One, his voice was back to normal; two, his skin tone was back to being lilac.

   "Professor?"

   Venomous looked to his right to see the person he thought he wouldn't see for a while longer: Boxman.

   "Boxman?"

   Boxman hugged Venomous like the few times before, spinning him around as he was giggling with joy; Venomous couldn't help joining in, knowing now that they were finally separated and themselves again. Boxman then put Venomous down, which is when Paintbrush walked up to them with their hands on their hips. "Seems like you two are excited to be yourselves again." They commented.

   "Ah, well-" "Well, I-" Boxman and Venomous began respectively and unanimously, causing both to look at each other and slightly blush at the motion.

   "Why don't you go first?" Both villains said again, their blush growing deeper. "No, you go. I-I insist you go-"

   Paintbrush suddenly slapped their hands on both Venomous' and Boxman's mouths, both villains looking at the dark-tanned teen in retaliation to the slight stinging sensation. "I'm-a just gonna shut this down before this becomes a never-ending cycle and take it as a "yes"..." Paintbrush then removed their hands from their mouths, Venomous slightly rubbing his; he swore Paintbrush's hands were warmer than he remembered as Voxman, but it could just be they were hot from pushing the D-Bug so far.

   "So," Lightbulb suddenly appeared from behind Venomous, who jumped and clutched a hand to his chest from the gray-blonde's voice. " _You're_ Professor Venomous, right?"

   It took a moment for him to recover from the sudden shock, but he managed to face the shorter teen, only now realizing that she was about as tall as Venomous himself. "Yes, yes I am."

   Lightbulb did a once over of the lilac-skinned man, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Voxman said that  _you're_ the one with the snake tail, right?"

   "Yes...?" Venomous was now getting nervous; for the short time he's known Lightbulb - even if he was Voxman during the time, he still remembers how she acted - she didn't look like the suspicious type. Boxman was about to step in, ready to say something to Lightbulb with a raised finger, but Paintbrush stopped him and just told him to let it flow.

   Suddenly, Lightbulb grabbed Venomous by his upper arms and hugged him as tight as she could; his feet weren't touching the ground anymore and he could feel the air in his lungs being squeezed out of him as Lightbulb squealed loudly. "I've  _always_   _loved_ things like werewolves and things like this, so this is a dream come **_true_** for me!"

   "Congratulations," Paintbrush said an amused smirk on their face. "You've just made a friend for life."

   Venomous, while being glad that he's not being put under watch as from another person (he already gets enough of that from P.O.I.N.T.), but he could feel himself being crushed by the energetic teen. "That's...great but..." Venomous managed to strain out, feeling light-headed. "I... _can't...breathe..."_

    "Whoops, heh-heh..." Lightbulb set Professor Venomous down on his feet, the latter having his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. "Sorry, I get a little excited sometimes."

   "I've gathered that," Venomous said, readjusting his lab coat. "But, I forgive you."

   "As much as I want to continue..." Boxman made a vague gesture. " _This_ , didn't you say you two were, oh, I don't know, TAKING US BACK TO SOME ABANDONED CITY?!" Boxman yelled out the last part but coughed from the underuse of his normal voice. Venomous quickly got to Boxman's side, patting his back as he asked if he was okay. "Yeah," Boxman coughed out. "I'm fine."

   "Here," Lightbulb tossed both villains a bottle of water from her hoodie pocket. "Drink up, you two are gonna need it when we get in."

   Neither villain wasted time in opening and taking a few sips of the somehow cool water. Sighing in relief, Venomous placed the bottle in his right-handed lab coat pocket. "Thank you, Lightbulb." The lilac villain thanked the energetic gray-blonde. "But, why do you keep water with you if you have electricity-based powers?"

   "Uh, duh," Lightbulb rolled her eyes, leaning back on one foot. "Electricity and water are my two favorite substances."

   "Electricity isn't a substance."

"Ahem."

   Everyone looked over to where the voice came from, which was Paintbrush leaning against the ivy-covered cliff. "If you're done with the small talk, then why don't we show you the _electrifying_ event you came here for." Paintbrush winked in Lightbulb's direction, the latter blushing and giggling at them. "So, brace yourselves." Paintbrush grabbed a branch of ivy before pulling down on it, revealing it to be a hidden switch that looked like ivy.

Suddenly, the left side of the cliff began disappearing in hexagonal shapes, leaving behind an arc. Lightbulb pushed Venomous and Boxman through the arc, giddy and smiling as wide as her face would let her. Once she was done pushing the two villains, they looked around and saw the hidden city.

   Paintbrush walked inside the hidden city, the entrance camouflaging itself again. "Well," They began, standing on the right of the villainous duo. "Here we are."

   Little do any of them know, this is the start of a whole new experience of hardships, friendships, and everything in between.

**Author's Note:**

> I made Strike the main antagonist for this because:
> 
> 1\. He's a multi-dimensional person with a vendetta to fulfill.  
> 2\. His time in "Crossover Nexus" was far too short for me.
> 
> Before anyone says comments, no, Voxman doesn't have a crush on Lightbrush. He just feels a kind of friendship between him and Lightbrush and his hatred towards heroes is being questioned, though it wasn't exactly elaborated on in this.
> 
> If someone wants to, they can turn this fic into a full-fledged chapter book if they want.
> 
> If you've got any questions about this, feel free to leave them in the comments section below and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this, 'cause I sure did!
> 
> EDIT: I fixed up some things to make it flow better. Hope you enjoy it.


End file.
